How to track power outages from Tropical Storm Nicole

Tropical Storm Nicole has knocked out power to more than 230,000 customers this morning, most of them on the East Coast.

The storm came ashore overnight near Ft. Pierce.

Officials say that wind and related damage could trigger power outages during this latest storm, although it may not be widespread. Nicole also is moving quickly across the state.

By comparison, Hurricane Ian in late September knocked out power for as many as 2.7 million customers across the state of Florida.

In the greater Tampa Bay region as of 9 a.m., Hillsborough County had the most outages with more than 15,000 without power. There were about 7,500 without power in Pasco County.

Tracking the outages

Power outage data is published by the Florida Public Service Commission every three hours online at psc.state.fl.us/ or on on Twitter at @floridapsc.

Florida Power and Light Co. provides service, in part, to these counties: Sarasota, Manatee, DeSoto, Hardee and Highlands. Residents can also monitor real-time power outages here.

Duke Energy is a primary power provider for the greater Tampa Bay region and Central Florida, including Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Polk, Highlands, Hardee and Hernando counties.

Polk County is also serviced by Lakeland Electric, from Polk City to Highland city, and the Peace River Electric Cooperative, Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative and Tampa Electric Co.(TECO).

Monitoring and reporting outages

If you have internet access, outages can be monitored on these major power providers' websites:

• Florida Power and Light Company
• Duke Energy
• Florida Public Utilities
• TECO

If your power is provided by a cooperative or municipal government in the greater Tampa Bay region, you can monitor outage updates on these websites:

• Peace River Electric Cooperative, Inc.
• Lee County Electric Cooperative
• Sumter Electric Cooperative, Inc.
• Lakeland Electric
• Glades Electric Cooperative, Inc.
• Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative, Inc.

To assist Florida households and emergency personnel experiencing power outages Comcast's network is offering roughly 90,000 public Xfinity hotspots. Hotspots are free and available to non-Xfinity customers. Register here: https://www.xfinity.com/response.

Power providers ask that residents report any outages they are experiencing.

• Report outages with Florida Power and Light Company here, or call 1-800-468-8243. To report a downed power line, call 1-800-4OUTAGE.
• Report outages with Duke Energy here, call 800-228-8485 or text "OUT" to 57801
• Report outages with TECO here, or call 877-588-1010.